Redcliffe Peninsula Line [was MBRL (Petrie to Kippa Ring)]

[Stillwater]

lol, still preliminary works though.  Project being touted as being 'under construction' to give the government good image in the lead-up to the Redcliffe by-election.  Politicians turned sods last year, more sods turned by pollies in hard hats the other day.  Pollies have turned over more sods on the MBRL than actual workers with shovels or operating mechanical diggers.

It is further evidence that politics drives public transport initiatives in Queensland, not good public policy.

[techblitz]

Redcliffe Bayside Herald
05.02.14

[ozbob]

Twitter

Dave Andrews ‏@chopperdaveqld Apr 8

Work finally started on the Redcliffe to Petrie train line at the Petrie end #bouttime #choochoo http://t.co/TVOCDEzmj4

[red dragin]

That clearing was started months ago 

[DayboroStation]

Twitter

Dave Andrews ‏@chopperdaveqld Apr 8

Work finally started on the Redcliffe to Petrie train line at the Petrie end #bouttime #choochoo http://t.co/TVOCDEzmj4

Thanks for the photo - good to see the progress. I caught the train from Petrie Station today for the first time in a few months. They have also bulldozed the pine forest that separated the station from the old paper mill.

[HappyTrainGuy]

That clearing was started months ago 

Lies. What's next? One of the overpasses has already been built with the approaches already cleared?   

[red dragin]

That clearing was started months ago 

Lies. What's next? One of the overpasses has already been built with the approaches already cleared?   

I'm not sure if your having a go at me or not so I will ask rather than get my back up.

There was a visible clearing from the train 2+ months when I went through.

[HappyTrainGuy]

Just joking around. A small section already has the overpass built and the corridor leading to, under it and away from it are pretty much ready for ballast and rails to be put down.

[red dragin]

 

I read it as a rail overpass, not the Kinsellas Road overpass.

[ozbob]

Couriermail Quest --> The Moreton Bay Rail Link progress has moved into Mango Hill as major works begin on Dohles Rocks Road

[ozbob]

Discussion on MBRL after 6am this morning on Newstalk 4BC 1116.

[ozbob]

Discussion on MBRL after 6am this morning on Newstalk 4BC 1116.

Thanks for the opportunity Ian and Loretta, 4BC to talk good news rail!

[ozbob]

Moreton Bay Rail --> http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Projects/Featured-projects/Moreton-Bay-Rail.aspx

Latest news --> http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/~/media/Projects/Featured%20projects/MBRL/Publications/ealert0414.pdf

[ozbob]

Note: Kinsellas Road station is now Mango Hill East station.

[red dragin]

Was told last night that the pressure is being applied on the various sectors to get this open by January 2016.

[Stillwater]

Yep, before the state election.  Gotta win the seat of Redcliffe.

[HappyTrainGuy]

IIRC it has always been planned for a early 2016 completion.

[James]

IIRC it has always been planned for a early 2016 completion.

^ this. 2016 doesn't fit with the state election timetable anyway, it fits with the federal one (and the Federal government are the primary government level funding the MBRL). So likely the federal government making sure it has good news to deliver come election time.

[ozbob]

Spot on James ..

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[red dragin]

Apparently if the placement of infrastructure in the plans doesn't suit, this particular supplier is being told to just "put it over there"!

Of course it goes back to the drawing board as this doesn't work with the placement of critical public infrastructure!

Having to be vague as I forgot to clarify with my "source" 

[Golliwog]

IIRC it has always been planned for a early 2016 completion.

^ this. 2016 doesn't fit with the state election timetable anyway, it fits with the federal one (and the Federal government are the primary government level funding the MBRL). So likely the federal government making sure it has good news to deliver come election time.

Except how does that fit with Abbott's belief that the Fed's should never fund rail except for freight?

"We don't believe Federal Government money should be spent on Public Transport projects, except when the previous government funded it and we found out we couldn't cancel it once we got in so we'll bask in the lime light anyway" ?

[red dragin]

I'm tipping that a section or at least a station with some track in it will be slapped together for the state election.

Murrumba Downs is a big area of focus at the moment and looks the most straight forward. Flat, straightish, good ground, lots of roadworks and very visible to the public.

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> New Moreton Bay Rail Link is on track to save $159 million, says Transport Minister Scott Emerson

[Jonno]

Is that the first Press Release from the Transport Minister that does not have a go at the opposition?

[red dragin]

It's the second I've seen.

There are massive earthworks East of the Bruce Highway now. Barriers are going up at night this week to allow works for the bridge over the highway.

[#Metro]

If I hear about bloody Laybah from the El En Pee again, I will have a brain EXPLOSION!!

[ozbob]

Twitter

Dave Andrews ‏@chopperdaveqld

Redcliffe to Petrie train line progress #choochoo #chopperview #kallangur http://t.co/D1dNVBnq1r

[ozbob]

Twitter

Dave Andrews ‏@chopperdaveqld 11m

Redcliffe to Petrie train line progress #choochoo #chopperview #kallangur http://t.co/D1dNVBnq1r

[colinw]

Excellent progress.  Shame, however, to see a billion dollars worth of earthworks, steel and concrete for what will surely be a mediocre half hourly offpeak service.

[HappyTrainGuy]

Excellent progress.  Shame, however, to see a billion dollars worth of earthworks, steel and concrete for what will surely be a mediocre half hourly offpeak service.

Don't be so sure mate

[colinw]

I sure hope you're right, and at the Springfield end as well.

The Springfield line annoys the heck out of me ... such a beautiful piece of infrastructure*, but running at frequency that doesn't really promote the habit of public transport except for the peak hour 'burbs & CBD journeys.

*by which I mean the branch line itself, not that half baked schemozzle between Corinda and Darra.

[dancingmongoose]

*by which I mean the branch line itself, not that half baked schemozzle between Corinda and Darra, and the gaping black hole at Ellen Grove

Fixed it for you

[colinw]

Indeed. Not to mention the missing bikeway.

I find it quite bizarre that Ellen Grove was left out of the Springfield line, given proximity to part of Forest Lake and Carole Park, and yet the MBRL is getting at least one station (Mango Hill East/Kinsellas Road) in an area with less potential patronage.

I don't think there's any doubt that, unless provided with a mega Park 'n' Ride, Ellen Grove would have been the quietest station on the line. But it would have provided useful overflow space for the already parked out Richlands (which anecdotally is spilling people to Gailes), a station for the low income area at Carole Park, a station for the employment precinct in the Johnson Road area, and a station within a stone's throw of the Logan Motorway.

Undoubtedly we will spend $50 million+ sticking some monstrosity in there onto an already operating line, when a simple Eden's Landing style pair of platforms with Go Card readers would have done as a start-up option.

[dancingmongoose]

Ugh, certainly won't need a Varsity Lakes 2.0. Something like Edens Landing would do nicely. Are there any artists impressions anywhere? I've looked but to no avail.

[colinw]

I was assuming (dangerous, I know) that it would have been a station similar to Springfield, i.e. probably quite excessive for Ellen Grove.

I really dislike this focus on over designed stations, where if the service is frequent enough you just need a basic platform because people aren't hanging around for half an hour waiting for the next train.

[James]

It is totally irrelevant whether Ellen Grove station was made with a gold statue of our Dear Leader Kim Jong <Premier of the Day> or whether it was two wood planks stuck together with craft glue, the fact is because the station wasn't built. When a station is built there (which will happen), it will be brownfield, meaning the train line will need to be closed again for extended periods of time in order to allow for the construction of the station. It will also cost more because it is brownfield and crews need to be re-hired, tendering re-started and so forth.

Same for Oxley UP Sub electrification + Oxley Platform 4. It is an embarrassment to the state of Queensland for things like that. It is only closely followed by the giant waste monuments which exist between Coopers Plains and Kuraby. The only thing to show for it? You get to now watch more express trains pass you in peak hour if you wait at one of those stations! Wheeeeeeeee....

[colinw]

Careful ... mention of the S2K upgrade makes me froth at the mouth.  All that sub-optimal additional track capacity, butt ugly oversized stations which are not aging well, and STILL stuck with a half hourly service.  Every time I use my local station I just shake my head at the silliness of it all.

Every way I look at it, S2K was an epic fail of a project.  It produced some short term gains for the Gold Coast line, but locked in a suboptimal alignment, is engineered in such a way that future quadruplication is going to be very expensive, and doesn't even have crossovers in the right place to facilitate quarter hourly service beyond Coopers Plains.

I'll stop now, I'm just going to get all whiny.

[STB]

Just to pipe up, but S2K should've been 4 tracks from the start, not 3.

[dancingmongoose]

For BaT/CRR to work optimally it probably should be quad Park Road - Kuraby. We live in hope.

[ozbob]

Twitter

Dave Andrews ‏@chopperdaveqld

The Petrie to Redcliffe train line on either side of the Bruce Hwy at Kallangur #chopperview http://t.co/yL7i5sR3yn